Chronicles of a Survivor
by John Chandos
Summary: Two survivors from North Carolina. One giant mall filled with zombies. The perfect vacation, right?


_**Chronicles of a Survivor**_

Josh Giles and Leondias Proctor. Two people from North Carolina who wanted nothing more than to get away from it all. But how can they hope to enjoy a vacation while stuck in a mall filled with zombies?

Disclaimer: I don't own Dead Rising or any other elements I use in this story, as they belong to Capcom. I do, however, own both Josh and Leondias as characters.

_**Chapter 1: Willamette, Colorado**_

_**September 3, 2006**_

Josh awoke slowly, finding the sun shining right in his eyes. He turned over, trying to go back to sleep, but finally gave up and sat up in the bed. He was currently in one of the rooms in a small, sleazy hotel in the town of Willamette, Colorado. He and his childhood friend had hit the road a few days ago, trying to get away from the troubles they were having in their hometown. His friend had a few relatives living in Willamette, so they decided to take a roadtrip and go visit them and get a bit of relaxation time as well.

_Yep... We're pretty much running away from our problems. At any rate, being thousands of miles away from our hometown is definitely one way to do it..._

Josh chuckled dryly at that thought, getting out of bed. He and Leondias had taken quite possibly the longest road trip of their lives a few days prior, driving all the way from the state of North Carolina to Colorado.

They had even committed a few felonies on the trip... Once, they had entered a bar and started a fight with one of the patrons, which eventually ended up with every single patron in the bar jumping in on the action.

The brawl then proceeded to spill out into the street, and before anyone knew it, it had turned into a city-wide riot.

Needless to say, the two had gotten out of the city as quickly as possible. Thankfully, the police had no way to link them to the crime.

Josh walked into the bathroom, grabbing his toothbrush and turning on the faucet before starting to brush his teeth. He stopped when he heard a knock on the door.

"Yo, Josh! You up, man?" Someone called.

"Yeah! Door's unlocked, dude!" Josh called back. There was the sound of a door opening, and eventually Leondias walked in, wearing a green Boston Celtics basketball jersey, a pair of baggy, dark blue jean shorts, white ankle-cut socks, and a pair of green and white Nike basketball shoes. Leondias had black hair, which was kept short and cut into the style of a fade. He had brown eyes and stood at about 5'11", and was rather lean and muscular. Josh smirked. Leondias was indeed his African-American childhood friend. The two had gone through high school together, and had even gotten a job at the same place, working as beta-testers for a small-time video game company. In the wrong eyes, one would believe the two were "married", as much as they hung out together.

"You 'bout ready to go cruisin' through the streets, dawg?" Leondias asked. Josh nodded, finishing brushing his teeth and stepping back into the room, grabbing his clothes off of the bed. They consisted of a pair of baggy blue loose-fit jeans that were a size or so too big, a simple, plain black t-shirt, a powder blue North Carolina University Tar Heels basketball jersey, and a pair of blue and white Nike tennis shoes, as well as a pair of sunglasses.

"Yeah... Just gotta get dressed and then we can go. Flip that TV over there on right quick. May as well see what's on the news before we get out there." Josh said before walking back into the bathroom. He paused, taking a look at himself in the mirror. He was Caucasian, with black hair that was kept spiked up at all times. His eyes were a crystal blue color, and his features were actually what some would call handsome.

He had managed to put his jeans on and pull his t-shirt on when Leondias called for him.

"Yo, you better come check this out!" He yelled. Josh walked back out of the bathroom, pulling his basketball jersey over his head as he did so.

"What's up?" Josh asked after he had finally pulled the thing over his head. Leondias merely pointed at the TV. They were airing a local news channel at the moment, and said reporters were showing pictures of cannibals... Eating other people. It said "Cannibalism in Willamette" in big white letters underneath the pictures.

"Cannibalism? Here? Out in the open?" Josh asked, sitting down on the bed and grabbing his tennis shoes, putting them on his feet as he talked.

"Sounds weird, don't it? They was tellin' everybody to stay locked in their houses just a second ago. Apparently, whatever this is done spread city wide." Leondias replied. Josh nodded, grabbing his sunglasses and his car keys off of the small end table he had in his room.

"Well, let's go check everything out." He said, walking to the door.

"I dunno, man... Maybe we should just keep our asses up here for a bit until whatever this is cools down." Leondias said. Josh chuckled, placing his hand on the door knob and turning it.

"Ah, you worry too much, ya old woman. Now let's go." He said, opening the door to suddenly find himself face to face with a woman...

Who was missing half of her face, as well as an arm.

"OH SHIT!" Josh yelled as the woman grabbed for him, unconsciously jumping backwards as he did so. He managed to do a perfect job of falling right on his ass, landing several feet away from the woman.

"HOLY -- Who the hell is that?!" Leondias yelled, backing up to the corner of the room. Josh looked at the woman carefully, who was now shambling into the hotel room. Her eyes were a dull, grey color.

"Jesus, look at her eyes!" Josh remarked, beginning to crawl backwards as the woman shambled into the room with them.

"Shit! Bitch ain't got but one fuckin' arm!" Leondias yelled, pointing at the missing appendage.

"Fuck her up! FUCK HER UP!" Josh yelled, crawling away even faster as woman encroached upon him slowly, hunger evident in her eyes. Leondias finally hefted up one of the rather heavy luggage bags Josh had been storing his clothes and personal items in before throwing it at the woman with all of his strength.

The luggage bag clocked the woman right in the face, and there was a sickening snap as her head completely snapped off, blood spewing out in rivers as the body fell to the side, never to get back up again.

Josh placed a hand over his heart, trying to slow its pace down as he stared at the corpse.

"Shit... Well, that's just fuckin' perfect. We murdered the bitch! What the hell are we supposed to do now?!" Leondias asked.

"I don't know, man. Give me a minute to catch my breath." Josh replied, flopping down on the bed.

"The bitch was just standing there waiting for us... I just don't get it. She was missing an arm and half her damn face, yet she was still able to walk around... It doesn't make sense. Not one bit of it makes sense." He added.

"So what now, playa?" Leondias asked. Josh continued to sit there, thinking hard.

"We probably shouldn't stay here. Obviously, it's not safe. We need to go somewhere that's a bit... Hell, I don't know... What's the one place people would flock to around here... A place that practically everyone in the town would know the layout of?" Josh asked.

Leondias snapped his fingers suddenly, getting an idea.

"I got it! The Willamette Parkview Mall! Think about it... They built that huge ass mall right in the center of town, and it seems like the people in this town only got two options. Either go fishing in one of the lakes around here, or go screw around at the mall for a few hours." He said. Josh nodded, his eyes widening slightly.

"Damn... You're right! We should try heading there... The trip might be a little rough, but we'll probably be safe in the mall." He said, standing up.

"We need to find some kind of weapons for sure, though. Probably not such a good idea to be fightin' zombie-ass muthafuckas with our bare hands." Leondias remarked. Josh nodded.

"We'll get on that, now let's roll." He said before walking to the door, this time making sure to peek through the small peephole in the door before opening it. He didn't see anything, however, so after a few minutes he finally swung the door open and exited the room cautiously.

The two slowly creeped through the hallways, hearing groans throughout the building the whole time they were walking.

"Either we got a lotta zombies in here, or a lotta people be getting busy right now." Leondias remarked, Josh chuckled at the remark before starting off down the stairs.

"Did you happen to check the clock before we left?" Josh asked.

"Nah. Sorry, bro. Kinda lost track of the time when that bitch decided to just waltz up into the room." Leondias replied.

"Alright... Guess we'll figure out soon enough. Let's pick up the pace." Josh said. The two continued at the pace of a brisk walk, and after what seemed like hours of descending the stairs, they finally reached the lobby. Two of the hotel attendants were mauling one of the guests, ripping out his organs and feasting on them. The smell was horrible, and both Josh and Leondias tried to refrain from puking as they quickly ran out into the empty parking lot.

It took just a few seconds to find their car, a 2005 Chrysler 300, and then they were finally on the road. The city was in a state of complete chaos: a few buildings were on fire in the distance; cars lay turned over in the street, abandoned by their owners; and people were running about screaming in terror while some zombies milled about, attacking anything that moved.

"Wow... This place has really gone to shit, hasn't it?" Josh asked, driving around an overturned city bus that appeared to have several people trapped within it.

"Yeah, fo' sho'. The mall better be coming up before long, that's all I'll say." Leondias said.

After fifteen minutes of driving, they finally pulled into the parking lot of the Willamette Parkview Mall. The people inside had built a barricade in front of the main entrance. A few people were milling about by the barricade, and there was also a group of zombies in the parking lot, shambling towards the hastily erected barricade.

"What now, playa?" Leondias asked.

"I don't know... Give me a minute to think." Josh replied.


End file.
